Nipah confirmed in deceased Kerala youth, 151 came into his contact

Thiruvananthapuram: The Pune Virology Institute has confirmed that the samples of the 23-year-old youth from the Malappuram district of Kerala were Nipah virus positive.

The state Health Minister Veena George said that the test report has confirmed that the samples of the youth who died of suspected Nipah virus was a positive case.

The department on Sunday also released the list of 151 people who have come in direct contact with the deceased youth.

“Three of these people in the contact list have shown symptoms of the virus,” the department said.

The deceased, a 23-year-old student at Bengaluru, was a native of Chembaram near Naduvath in Wandoor. He died at a private hospital at Perinthalmanna.

The primary lab test conducted in Kozhikode Medical College was positive, and after the samples were confirmed positive for Nipah from the Pune virology lab, the Health Department will take further actions following protocols.

Officials from the Thiruvali panchayat and the Health Department held a meeting to assess the region's current situation. A health alert has been issued in Thiruvali panchayath and usage of face covering masks has been made compulsory.

Malappuram District Health Department officials told IANS that the deceased youth had come from Bengaluru recently with a leg injury.

The youth then contracted a fever and visited a clinic at Naduvath and another one at Wandoor in Malappuram. He passed away on Sunday and his samples were sent to the Pune Virology Lab for testing for Nipah virus.

Doctors had injected the boy with a monoclonal antibody procured from Australia by the Indian Council of Medical Research, but in the teenager’s case, the deadline for the infusion of antibodies had passed.

However, the medical board authorised the administration as a desperate life-saving measure but could not save him.

The Nipah virus claimed the life of a 14-year-old boy from Kerala‘s Malappuram district on July 21, 2024.

The resurgence of the disease, which often spreads from fruit bats to other animals and human beings, has prompted the government to impose containment measures in at least two panchayats in the district.

In 2018,18 people died of an outbreak of Nipah virus which is the first time the deadly disease was detected in South India.